She was sitting on the bus. Alone in her seat. The route was almost complete, except for two more stops. The bus pulled up to the second to last stop and the kids began to get on. A boy sat next to her. That’s okay, she was going to live. It would be fine. The rest of the kids found their seats before the bus began to move again. There were seven of the seats where three kids were already sitting when the bus pulled up to the final stop. The last batch of 12 more kids loaded on, causing half the bus’s total seats to be taken by three people. She was now sitting, crushed against the window, with two complete strangers squishing her in.

Buses are way too overcrowded.

This is an issue for multiple reasons, the main reason being that it isn’t safe.

It is not safe to have three high school kids sitting in one seat. One kid will end up being halfway or more off of  the seat and in the aisle. This is unsafe because if the bus driver were to hit the brakes too hard, or something comes up where they have to stop abruptly, the kid could be sent out of their seat into the aisle and could be hurt.

If a kid is only halfway on the seat, they will have to use their body strength to hold themselves up. While holding themselves up from falling into the aisle for an extensive amount of time could become strenuous to their muscles and could potentially damage the person if it is something that the person would not normally do.

Buses are a way that many kids get to school, so if there are many buses with too many people on them, this is a constant health and safety risk for the riders. This could also help sicknesses spread easier throughout the bus when everyone is so close together.

The situation of three to a seat for half the bus happened on my bus last week (Tuesday morning, January 3rd). Today, January 9th, this problem of bus overcrowding was taken to another level.

We got a message in the morning saying, trying to say our bus would be merged with another bus. The message said, “416 HS AM route has nbeen split  please escpect time varitions in pick up.”

We ended up on an already overcrowded bus, with our overcrowded bus. On top of people sitting three to a seat, people were standing in the aisles the whole time. People were sitting on the backrest of the seat. Let me say that again, people were standing in the aisle. As the bus was moving.

What if something went wrong? How many people could have been injured? Killed? This is a problem that CAN NOT continue. This must stop. NOW.

One solution to this problem would be to offer to pay more for bus drivers. If the pay for bus drivers increases, more people may be lured in to do the job.

With more bus drivers, there could be a few more routes, and even just a few more routes would help tremendously.

Another solution would be for other people already working in the district to volunteer to help out. The higher-ups at the bus barn could help and drive one or two more buses, or even some teachers could drive some buses to help out.

Due to bus overcrowding, kids are more likely to get hurt or sick in their bus going experience, meaning their transport to school is much more dangerous. That should not be the case.

If other people were to step up to help, with or without the right incentives, maybe we could fix these problems.

Maybe if you or someone you know are qualified, you should try to help with the problem of bus overcrowding.